A friend of Ruben Cepeda, who is accused of killing his pregnant girlfriend and her fetus, helped Cepeda immediately flee to Mexico, a prosecutor said Thursday.

Jesse Juan Lopez faces up to seven years behind bars if convicted of being an accessory after the fact in the death of Viridiana Rodriguez, 18, Deputy District Attorney Keith Watanabe said. Lopez, 22, also faces gang allegations. During his arraignment in a Vista courtroom Thursday, Lopez pleaded not guilty; he was ordered jailed in lieu of $200,000 bail.

Cepeda is wanted on suspicion of murder. Authorities said he shot Rodriguez in the stomach about 7:30 p.m. on April 7.

Watanabe said Lopez drove Cepeda, a fellow gang member, to the U.S.-Mexico border, where witnesses reported seeing a man get out of Lopez's truck, run to the border and climb a fence into Mexico about an hour or so after Rodriguez was shot in the Escondido apartment Cepeda and Lopez shared. Cellphone records also indicate Cepeda fled to the border, Watanabe said.

Cepeda is a U.S. citizen, and both he and Lopez are believed to be members of a Poway gang, the prosecutor said.

Cepeda and the victim were in Cepeda's bedroom, while her sisters were in Lopez's bedroom when the girls heard a loud bang, Watanabe said. The girls ran in and heard Rodriguez, standing in front of Cepeda, say "You shot me," the prosecutor said. Cepeda replied that the shooting was an accident, the prosecutor said.

Watanabe said that while the women tended to their sister, Lopez took off his shirt, used it to pick up the gun and the fled the apartment with Cepeda.

Rodriguez died at Palomar Medical Center about an hour later. The 9mm bullet tore through her stomach, hit her aorta and struck her spine, but did not strike the fetus, according to Watanabe. The fetus died, however, when its mother died.

The autopsy found that the muzzle of gun had been pressed up against Rodriguez's pregnant stomach, the prosecutor said.

Cepeda remains at large. Authorities have issued a reward of up to $2,000 for information leading to his arrest.